Coast Guard Suspends Search for Diver Off Canaveral Coast

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Coast Guard suspended its search off the coast of Port Canaveral, Fla., Wednesday afternoon for a diver that went missing Saturday evening off the coast of Jupiter Inlet, Fla.

Coast Guard search and rescue crews resumed its search Tuesday morning off the coast of Port Canaveral for Nicole Cuomo, 32, of Rockledge, Fla., after suspending the search for her Monday. The search resumed after a privately contracted aircraft spotted what appeared to be a flotation device used in diving 28-miles northeast of Port Canaveral. The flotation device could have been used by the missing diver off Jupiter Inlet.

Cuomo was diving off a 26-foot boat when she failed to surface after 45 minutes Saturday. Howard Sorkin the boat’s operator, contacted the Coast Guard an hour after she failed to surface, to request assistance.

A total of more than 5,500 square-miles combined were searched off the coasts of Port Canaveral and Jupiter Inlet.

Coast Guard search and rescue crews responded from all over the Southeastern United States and the Caribbean to search for Cuomo. Helicopters from Air Station Clearwater, Fla., a C-130 fixed-wing aircraft from Air Station Clearwater, a jet from Air Station Miami, a helicopter from Air Station Savannah, Ga., a helicopter from Air Station Miami, the 110-foot Cutter Chincoteague from San Juan, Puerto Rico, the 87-foot Cutter Kingfisher from Mayport, Fla., the 87-foot Cutter Dolphin from Miami Beach, Fla., aircraft from Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Fla., two boats and a helicopter from the Martin County Sheriffs Office, and a Jupiter Island Police Department boat searched for Cuomo.